Lauren & Nandan’s Old Town Alexandria Engagement Photos - Alexandria VA Historic

Engagement

Sep 30

When Lauren first reached out to me, she asked if I had ever photographed weddings before. I told her no, but I had always been interested in it. I’ve photographed friends and family before and put those photos up online with some landscapes, macrophotography, and other types of photography that I love to do. So we decided to get together and talk about it over some excellent coffee at the wonderful Bayou Bakery in Courthouse. We decided to do a nice engagement shoot in Old Town Alexandria to see whether or not I’ll be their wedding photographer.

I knew this could be the start of something amazing! So I went back home and started planning the best photoshoot that I could ever plan, including reaching out to Blüprint Chocolatiers to see if we could shoot in their retail location on King Street. They said Yes, but the best time would be in the morning! So I asked Lauren if she and Nandan would be willing to start early in the morning on a Saturday. This is the best time to photograph anyways as you don’t get many people out and about and also because we could include a beautiful sunrise. So I checked the alignment of the sunrise and figured that the best place to capture it would be in Captain's Row on Prince Street. I knew four hours would be more than enough time to give Lauren and Nandan a good variety, time to change outfits (thank you Starbucks), and to see if I might be good enough to photograph their wedding.

Okay, so now I had a plan for where I want to photograph and what types of photos I want to capture (thank you Pinterest). Now I need to not mess up their photos and make them as happy as I possibly can.

So we met early in the morning at the Waterfront Park. I took some time to explain how the photoshoot is going to work, where we’re going to go, and what kind of tips they need to remember so they can look their best. I wanted to pose them, but also get candid shots of them enjoying this amazing time where they don’t have to worry about anything and just be with each other while having a ton of fun. Gosh this turned out way better than I thought! We finished shooting at Blüprint Chocolatiers and we decided to have lunch together at Don Taco and go through the photos. They seemed pretty happy, but I told them I’ll need to work on the photos to make them even better.

I spent a month or so really working my butt off on these photos. I needed these photos to cry out “Lauren & Nandan’s Wedding Photographer” (haha). So I uploaded their photos to their online gallery and after a month or so of trying to meet back up, Lauren sent me an email asking me if I could be their wedding photographer! I couldn’t speak or think for a month from being in such shock.